


A Delicate Time

by duchessofthemoonbase



Series: The Leto and Jessica Chronicles [1]
Category: Dune - All Media Types, Dune Series - Frank Herbert
Genre: Canon Compliant, Deleted Scenes, F/M, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27899422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duchessofthemoonbase/pseuds/duchessofthemoonbase
Summary: A beginning is a very delicate time, especially for Jessica as she leaves the Bene Gesserit for Caladan.She is about to be introduced to her Duke.
Relationships: Leto Atreides I/Jessica (Dune)
Series: The Leto and Jessica Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042986
Comments: 17
Kudos: 17





	A Delicate Time

**Author's Note:**

> I am planning a series of deleted scene oneshots for Leto and Jessica throughout their relationship, and oh boy am I excited. Because I love them. They are literally all I think about anymore. I fucking sfksdjkhfsdjhk *short circuits* LOVE!!!! THEM!!!!

It had always been a cold room.

Despite the rows of beds filled with warm bodies, it had always been cold. But Jessica figured the Reverend Mother wanted it that way. There were rows and rows of girls who had grown up under the same roof, but none of them felt much in the way of love for one another—not really. They were but partners in the same endeavor, ships passing in the night before they sailed on to a greater purpose.

It was her last night at the Bene Gesserit school. She’d slept in this room for as long as she could remember, since the day she was born, staring out at the spartan walls until she could will her body into sleep.

Here she had trained, here she had disciplined herself, here she had learned _prana-bindu_ and the Weirding way. But where were the other memories? The laughter, the love, the blurred edges of happy childhood rememberings? She didn’t even know her own parentage, although surely the names were hidden away somewhere in the building.

In twenty years here she could not find a thing she wanted to cling on to. And this realization terrified her.

Some of the girls had never thought twice about why they were here. They were proud to serve the Bene Gesserit and had never questioned it. Jessica could see it in their eyes.

She suspected she was different.

Control over one’s body and emotions was an incredible thing—she wasn’t going to deny that. But she doubted she was the only Bene Gesserit who had fantasized about easing away from that control; from experiencing the wild frontiers of untempered emotion. She loved poetry, the stories in the songs she heard from the troubadours and their balisets—to be a woman in such a world! To love and hate and scream so fiercely that the universe bowed and broke at the mere beatings of your heart. The idea haunted her.

So did the eyes of those men from Caladan.

They had come a month ago, those servants of the Atreides, all dressed in green and black as they approached the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. She had presented Jessica to them, and they’d stared at her as if she was less than human. “This is Jessica,” the Reverend Mother said to them, placing a withered hand on her shoulder. “She is to be a concubine to your Duke. She is to bear him a daughter.”

The men gazed at her a few minutes more while Jessica stood in silence. They nodded at the Reverend Mother, apparently finding her satisfactory, and confirmed that they’d be back to take her to Caladan in a month.

The month was up.

Jessica turned over in her bed. That day had made her _angry._ She had tried so hard to push the fury down. The Atreides Duke hadn’t even bothered to show up…and the awful way those men had looked at her…

She was better than them. Above them. She could get them to obey her if she wanted, she could kill them instantly. So why was _she_ the one submitting to _them!?_

Because that was the way of the Bene Gesserit. She was a part of their greater plans. She knew.

It struck her then that she’d never agreed to any of this.

***

The ship touched onto the grass slowly, so slowly it drove Jessica mad.

She stood outside with the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam and the other girls, their heads bowed as the ramp was lowered from the ship.

“You are making us proud today, Jessica,” The Reverend Mother said. “The daughter you bear for this Duke…she may change everything, you know.”

Jessica nodded and began walking towards the ship, taking her last steps on the cold surface ofWallach IX; her final steps away from the Bene Gesserit—but they would never truly be gone from her. This she knew. Her programming had been much too thorough for her to consider this a permanent separation. They would always have a hold on her.

A man approached her and helped her onto the ship. He was clearly a warrior, but there was a twinkle in his eye that belied his brutal strength.

“Gurney Halleck,” he said, bowing. “I’m here to escort you to Caladan, my lady.”

“Thank you,” Jessica said. She walked onboard the ship without turning around.

She could feel their eyes on her.

***

Gurney was quiet as the ship took off into the stratosphere, Jessica reciting the litany to herself as she felt gravity shift around her for the first time. _Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to—_

“First time in space?” Gurney asked.

“Yes,” Jessica answered.

“I suppose they don’t let you Bene Gesserit out very much.” He sighed, his fingers brushing over the controls. “How much did they tell you about the Duke?”

“Nothing,” Jessica said, and it was true. She only knew he was an Atreides and that she was going to Caladan. She didn’t know if he was cruel or kind, young or old. She had decided early on to go in with low expectations.

“Don’t worry, my lady,” Gurney said. “The Duke is a kind man—a very noble sort of fellow. You have nothing to fear.”

Jessica nodded, feeling her anxieties ease up a bit—but not completely.

Gurney pressed a lever forward and the ship broke beneath the clouds. Caladan was beautiful, lush and green, full of forests and oceans and teeming with life. As planets went, it was not a bad one to end up on.

The ship approached a massive stone castle, a majestic fortress that towered above the surrounding trees. Jessica centered herself, let her mind take control of the panic her body so desperately wanted to give into.

Not today. Not ever.

***

Jessica carefully made her way off the ship, steadying her feet as she stepped over wildflowers— _wildflowers,_ she thought. _How have I gone my whole life without seeing one?_

She wore the simple black, form-fitting dress she’d left Wallach IX in, her posture severe as she climbed the steps to Castle Caladan with Gurney Halleck. The Duke would be waiting inside. _Her Duke._ She loathed the intensity of this moment, the grandiosity of it in her own path through time. These next few minutes would change everything.

Jessica stepped through the door.

She knew right away it was him.

The Duke smiled at her as she walked down the long entryway to the castle, his eyes soft as she approached. He was perhaps ten years her senior, with olive skin and a dark beard. He was handsome, and looked every bit as noble as Gurney said he would.

She had a good feeling about him.

“My Lord Duke,” Jessica said, bowing before him.

“Jessica,” he said, bowing in return. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

The Duke gave Gurney a sideways look, and he immediately made his way to another part of the castle.

“Enough with the formalities,” he teased. “Please, call me Leto.”

 _Leto._ Jessica liked the ring of it already. “If you insist, my Lord Duke,” she replied, a wry smile at the corners of her mouth.

“How was your journey?”

“Very pleasant, thank you.”

“I hope you find Caladan to your liking,” he said, leading her down the hall. “It’s a beautiful place…fitting for a beautiful woman.”

Jessica couldn’t help but smile. “There’s no need to flirt with me, my lord. I’m already your concubine.”

“Who said I was flirting?” he said, taking her hand and kissing it tenderly. “I am merely telling you the truth.”

Jessica used her training to read Leto’s features: indeed he was. It was clear he was already attracted to her, charmed by her even. She could tell by his pupils edging outwards, the bashful way he couldn’t quite look her in the eye. Perhaps he knew she could tell.

“Do you desire to rest?” he asked. “I always find space travel exhausting.”

“Not particularly,” Jessica said. “I am far too fascinated by my new surroundings to close my eyes just yet.”

“Very well,” Leto said. “Would you like me to show you around the gardens, perhaps?”

Jessica let him lead her out into the long, walled gardens that spread out across the back of the castle. The trees and plants were arranged beautifully, creating a maze of wonderments so diverse in color and form that she could hardly decide where to look first.

“I do like the gardens,” the Duke said. “But I far prefer to be out in the wilderness beyond the castle grounds, near the rivers and trees. I’d like to take you there, sometime.”

Jessica nodded, absorbed in memorizing the details of the flowers growing on the stone wall before her. She’d never seen such bright colors.

“You’re a very singular woman.”

“Oh?”

“I can already tell there is not a thing here that passes your notice. You must have intelligence far beyond your years and mine.”

Jessica looked down. “I have only the training which I received at school, my lord.”

“There is no need to sell yourself so short,” he said. “How would you like to spend your days here?”

She looked at him, puzzled. “I am to perform my duties to you, my Lord Duke, I—”

“No, no,” he said. “No, my dear. You are to have as full of a life as you could dream of here. There must be something you enjoy doing.”

Jessica froze. What had she ever done outside of her Bene Gesserit training?

“We have all sorts of things at Castle Caladan—a training room for physical exercise, painting and music, an excellent library, a—”

“I have always liked the romance of poetry.”

The Duke smiled. “So have I.”

***

The rest of the day passed pleasantly. Leto spent all afternoon leading Jessica around the gardens, where he listened with an attentiveness few had ever given her. He asked her about her time at school and her opinions on politics; her favorite tunes on the baliset and how she preferred her coffee in the mornings. They ate a quiet dinner together, continuing their conversation until the sun set below the castle.

The Duke bid her good night, and then a servant took Jessica to a small bedroom on the east wing of the castle, a pretty little room furnished in sage and gold. She took a bath and changed into a small nightgown, walking quietly down the hallway until she found the large bedroom that she assumed to be the Duke’s. She knocked lightly, and when he opened the door he looked at her with complete astonishment.

“Jessica?”

“I am here for you to bed me, my Lord Duke,” she said, bowing her head.

“ _Oh_ ,” Leto said, his face twisted in a mixture of horror and surprise. “That is not what—perhaps…perhaps we should discuss this.”

Jessica entered the room, her body tensing in fear. _When the Reverend Mother finds out he has rejected me and will not give me the child they so desperately want…_

The Duke sat on the edge of his bed wearing nothing but a pair of black sleep pants. Jessica’s eyes took in his sad expression and roved over the toned lines of his body. She looked down to the floor in shame.

“What have I done to offend?” she asked. “Please.”

“No, no, my dear,” Leto said, rushing over to her. “It is nothing like that.”

Jessica felt the beginnings of tears forming behind her eyes, and she used all her concentration to will them back.

“The more I learn about you, the more I think that Bene Gesserit school is a monstrous place for a girl to grow up in,” Leto said. “Sit with me here, and let’s discuss this. It seems we had different expectations of how this night would go.”

Jessica sat with her Duke on the bed, trembling as he took her hand in his. “The bedroom you were led to tonight—it is yours, Jessica. I desire a companion, of course, but you must know I will never touch you until you ask me for it. I will not give you this child the Bene Gesserit want so much until you desire it for yourself.”

“You do not desire me,” she stated flatly.

“Far from it,” her Duke said, letting one of his fingers graze the length of her arm. “I am already so enchanted by you, Jessica. _Too_ enchanted. This…whatever we have here, it is poetry. It has a meter. It must not be rushed. Do you understand?”

Jessica stared back at him. This Duke was so unlike the hypothetical man that the Bene Gesserits had always described to their young initiates. He was not desperate to create an heir, not desperate to use her for his pleasure, he—

He wanted to know what _she_ wanted. What _she_ thought.

“Believe me, I already yearn to have you in bed with me,” he whispered, his voice dropping an octave lower. “And I would love to give you a child. But you’ve not even been on Caladan a day. We have all the time in the world, my dear. I promise.”

Jessica looked at him and could not believe her eyes…could not believe the words this man spoke were truth— but they were. He truly cared about her. He wanted her to be comfortable here, to be happy. He wanted her to like him, and not just because she had to.

“Would you like to stay with me tonight?” he asked. “It can be rather lonely, sleeping alone in this big old castle, especially for the first time.”

“Yes,” she said. She settled into the bed next to Leto, a good foot in between them. She could feel his warmth underneath the covers.

He turned to face her, his fingertips brushing her cheek as he gazed into her eyes. “There is such a _fierceness_ hidden behind your eyes, Jessica. Whatever have they done to it?”

She stared out at her Duke, something warm and electric pulsing through her. She _was_ fierce, and complicated, and more than the Bene Gesserit would ever be capable of understanding. Why had it taken her so long to see it?

“They can’t hold you back anymore,” Leto whispered. “All that ferocity, all that love. It is only yours, now.”

The glowglobes on the ceiling faded into darkness, and her Duke fell asleep soundly beside her, the sound of his breathing lulling her into her first warm, deep sleep on Caladan. There was something blossoming between them. She could feel the edges of it, could just sense the outline of the extraordinary thing that it would become.

That _she_ would become.


End file.
